BUCKSPORT – Head coach Dana Smith and his Ellsworth Eagles weren’t sure how they’d play after a full “off week” of no game action.

Would the bats be a bit rusty? Would the defense still be sound? And how sharp would the pitching be?

The answers were no, yes, and very as the visiting Eagles swept a regular season series against Bucksport for the first time in recent memory with a 10-2 victory Tuesday night.

“We’ve never beaten them twice in a row in a long time. I don’t know how long, but it’s been awhile,” said Eagles cleanup hitter Greg Berry, who did just that with a double, two singles and two RBIs. “I was worried at first because a week off is a long time. Saturday, all we did was hit and hit and hit and yesterday we hit some more and worked on fielding.”

It showed as the Eagles improved to 8-1 with a 13-hit barrage led by Berry and Pat Kelley (three singles and an RBI).

Kelley also distinguished himself on the mound as he threw 100 pitches, allowing just five hits and one walk while notching five strikeouts to improve his record to 4-1.

“I was a bit hesitant to give the ball back to Pat, but I figured I’d see what he was made of,” Smith said, referring to Kelley’s last outing (a 13-5 loss to John Bapst). “That’s a really good lineup he beat today, too.”

Kelley did by getting up in the count early, working quickly, and location, location, location.

“I try to work in and out. Those guys, they’ll hit anything, so I tried to keep it outside and not put it in their wheelhouse because if I do, like I did with [Derek] Fish, they’ll hammer it,” Kelley explained. “I usually try to start off with strikes so I can go with my curveball, which I try to start off inside and have it break across.”

Bucksport broke on top 1-0 in the first with two singles – one an RBI hit to center by Eddie Robbins – and a walk, but Ellsworth tied it in the second courtesy of hit batter, a single, a groundout, a stolen base, and a throwing error.

The Eagles made it 4-1 in the fourth on four straight hits (a Kelley single, Berry single, Andrew Hodge RBI double, and Dillon Wilbur two-run double), and then broke it open with six runs on three hits in the sixth. The big hits in the sixth came from Kelley (RBI single), Berry (two-run double), and Adam Kaspala (two-run double). The Bucks paid for five walks and an error.

“Today we had a lot of two-out hits. That was the key,” Smith said. “We got our butts kicked by Bapst and I think this shows a lot about our guys. It’s a great win for us.”

The 6-6 Golden Bucks got their other run on Fish’s leadoff home run – a 300-foot shot to center – in the fourth off a Kelley fastball.

It was just about the only mistake pitch Kelley made.

“He’s a great pitcher and a real student of the game,” said Bucks coach Tiger Stewart. “There’ve been very few pitchers over the last few years that have been able to do that against us. You just have to tip your cap.”

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EAGLES 10, GOLDEN BUCKS 2

Ellsworth (8-1) Bucksport (6-5)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Folmer, ss 5 0 2 1 McGeechan,lf-2b 3 0 0

G. Kaspala, 2b 3 1 0 0 Wentworth, 1b 3 0

P. Kelley, p 5 2 3 1 Wadleigh, c 2 1 0

Berry, 1b 4 2 3 2 Robbins, cf 3 0 1

Lambert, pr 0 1 0 0 Fish, 2b-ss 3 1 1

Hodge, 3b 3 2 2 1 Klenowski, ss-p 3 0 0

Wilbur, rf 3 0 1 2 French, rf 3 0 0

A. Kaspala, cf 4 1 2 2 Nason, dh 3 0

Miller, dh 2 0 0 0 Bowden, p 0 0 0

N. Kelley, lf 0 0 0 0 Wood, lf-p 0 0

Carter, c 3 1 0 0 Trasko, 3b 3 0 0

Totals 32 10 13 9 Totals 26 2 5 2

Ellsworth 010 306 0 – 10

Bucksport 100 100 0 – 2

E-Folmer; Wadleigh 2, Trasko; LOB-Ellsworth 10, Bucksport 4; 2B-Berry, Wilbur, A. Kaspala 2; Wadleigh; HR-Fish (1); S-N. Kelley; SB-Wilbur; Wadleigh, Klenowski

Ellsworth IP H R ER BB SO

P. Kelley (W, 4-1) 7 5 2 2 1 5

Bucksport IP H R ER BB SO

Bowden (L, 4-1) 5 2/3 9 9 8 4 3

Klenowski 1/3 1 1 1 3 0

Wood 1 3 0 0 0 1

HBP-Berry (by Bowden); BK-Bowden; T-1:58; ATT-150 (est.)